By Susan Ning, Chai Zhifeng, Gong Ting, Zhang Tianjie   King & Wood Mallesons’ Commercial & Regulatory Group

Runtitledegulated by Chapter V of the Anti-monopoly law (“AML”), abuse of an administrative monopoly is interpreted as a kind of abuse of administrative powers to grant favourable conditions to preferred enterprises at the expense of others. Up to now, the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”) has published 6 cases about the antitrust enforcement against administrative monopoly. The most recent case concerns the Gansu Provincial Department of Transport affiliate, Gansu Provincial Transport Bureau, for its alleged abuse of administrative power to restrict competition. The local transport regulator was found to have appointed China Satellite Navigation and Communication as the sole supplier of vehicle terminals for the platform, and set the price of the terminals. The typical alleged abuses involved in these cases include exclusive dealing in favour of a locally owned enterprise or imposing discriminatory requirements for non-local enterprises.
Continue Reading The establishment of Fair Competition Review in China

By Jiang Ke and Yang Nan  King & Wood Mallesons’ Commercial & Regulatory Group

T蒋科he newly released Online Publishing Service Rules, due to its multiple amendments to the previous Internet Publishing Interim Rules which has been implemented for almost 14 years, has caused widespread concern of China’s regulation on the online publishing. This article,

By Susan Ning, Weiqing Qiu and Kate Peng King & Wood Mallesons’ Commercial & Regulatory Group

Ountitledpeng_katen February 3, 2016, China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce (“SAIC”) announced its first decision in 2016: SAIC’s Jiangxi provincial branch imposed penalties on 17 local insurance companies for concluding and implementing anticompetitive agreements to divide the casualty insurance market for construction projects in Jiangxi. The fines imposed in the case ranged from 5,934 ($902) yuan to 2,091,970 yuan ($317,979).
Continue Reading A Simple Tip to Undertakings: Coinsurance or JV Arrangement Cannot Circumvent Cartel Prohibition

By Susan Ning, Ting Gong, Kate Peng  King&Wood Mallesons’ Commercial & Regulatory Group

Funtitledropeng_katem late 2015 to early 2016, we notice that China’s Anti-monopoly law regime has continued to gain momentum with an intensified legislative effort. It is reported that altogether six guidelines are expected to be issued by the Anti-monopoly Commission of the State Council in 2016, namely, the guidelines on the interface between intellectual property (“IP”) rights and antitrust; the guidelines on leniency programme; the guidelines on commitments by undertakings under antitrust investigation; the guidelines for the motor vehicle sector; the guidelines on calculation of illegal gains and fines; and the guidelines on procedures for exemption application in relation to monopoly agreements.
Continue Reading Highlights of Recent Legislation in connection with China’s Anti-monopoly Law

By Stanley Zhou Minny Siu Janet Gu King & Wood Mallesons

CZhou_Xinhminnyina’s bond market is the world’s third largest bond market in the world in terms of trading volume. China has two main bond markets: the inter-bank bond market (“Inter-bank Bond Market”), which is primarily regulated by the People’s Bank of China (“PBOC”)

By Cheng Lim and James Walsh, King & Wood Mallesons

Tlim_cwalsh_jhe number of M&A transactions in 2015 has hit record highs, with volumes expected to increase by 11% from 2014, according to Bloomberg. Indeed, one of the hottest areas for M&A activity has been cybersecurity companies, with deals including AVG Technologies’ acquisition of Privax and Blue Coat systems’ acquisition of Perspecsys.

Cybersecurity is one of the top five business risks identified by major corpo­rates, particularly those in retail, health, and technology. Every day, we read of a new data breach somewhere in the world.
Continue Reading The importance of cyber due diligence in M&A transactions